|
Dengue case up in Eastern Visayas
Tacloban City—The Department of Health in Eastern Visayas has made an urgent call for the public to keep their surroundings clean as the number of people who have contracted the disease in the regions since January has already exceeded 5,000, with at least 65 deaths.
The number of cases in Tacloban City, which now stands at 1,194, has already reached "epidemic proportions, " said city health officer Dr. Jaime Opinion.
Records at the regional office of the DOH show that from January to July 28 this year 5,090 people across Eastern Visayas contracted dengue, more than one-fourth of them in Tacloban City.
The number is the highest ever since the DOH started its monitoring in 1998, according to DOH Region 8 sentinel nurse Boyd Cerro.
During the same period last year, the region had only 1,279 cases with 12 deaths.
So far this year, Tacloban has already recorded 1,194 cases with 19 deaths. Eighty-five percent of the victims were children less than 12 years old, Opinion said.
Opinion said the number of dengue fever cases in the city is now of "epidemic proportion" as almost all of its 138 barangays have dengue fever cases.
"Declaring an outbreak is just a matter of time. It is up to our city mayor," Opinion said.
By cleaning the surroundings, particularly those considered to be breeding grounds of dengue-causing mosquitoes, the number of cases will decline, said Cerro.
"The campaign should be done every week to ensure that even the kiti-kiti (larvae) would die and not just the mosquitoes," he added. /INQUIRER
Cerro said the DOH will work closely with local government units to stop the further spread of the disease. He said that all the provinces and cities in the region now have confirmed dengue fever cases.
Cerro said there was an urgent need for LGUs, including their respective barangays, to implement a very serious sanitation drive, especially on waterways like canals and objects that hold water such as containers, old tires and vases.
"With the onset of the rainy season, we expect that more dengue fever cases will be reported," Cerro said.
Cerro also revealed that practically all the hospitals in the region, both public and private, have patients suffering from dengue.
"In fact, the management of the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center has already sought assistance for an additional 50 beds exclusively for dengue fever patients," he said.
Source
Related Posts
|
